Anishinaabensag Biimskowebshkigewag

Native Kids Ride Bikes

MINNEAPOLIS Anishinaabensag Biimskowebshkigewag (Native Kids Ride Bikes October 3, 2014 through January 4, 2015) is an exhibition featuring lowrider bicycles created by urban Native youth, contemporary Indigenous artists, and non-Native university students in Michigan. The exhibitions central theme of bikes and mobilityphysical and economic are based on the sacred Anishinaabeg teachings known as Niizhwaaswi Gmishomisinaanig or Our Seven Grandfathers. The lead project artists imparted these seven core values, along with Métis and Cayuse knowledge to the youth through a series of workshops, and the values are echoed in the bikes they created.

This exhibition uses the bicycle to reflect upon sustainable transportation and its impact on contemporary Indigenous ways of life. In metropolitan areas of Michigan, primarily Flint, Lansing, Grand Rapids, and Detroit, Indigenous people and the automobile industry have a long history. Today, many urban Native youth in Michigan are descendants of Native wageworkers that left reservation lands for work in the automobile industry. Through socially engaged art practices, artist Dylan Miner, PhD (Métis), creates an environment where Native youth investigate how the bicycle can revitalize Indigenous culture and generates a dialogue to share new stories and experiences. This fall these bikes will come to the Twin Citiesa location known for its bustling bike culture and deep-rooted indigenous populationfor display at the Weisman Art Museum at the University of Minnesota.

The bikes will be exhibited with related drawings and photographs from the workshops. A number of community and student-based projects with the artist are planned in conjunction with the exhibition. Miner will participate in a teachers training workshop for student tours and a bike workshop with middle school Native youth in Minneapolis.

This exhibition is based on a project funded through a National Museum of the American Indians Artist Leadership Grant.

The exhibition includes seven lowrider bicycles, twenty-two photographs, a video of the production of the bicycles, 250 felt pennants, and eight flags. The pennants and flags include concepts from the Anishnaabeg teachings such as Nbwaakaawin (Wisdom), Zaagiidiwin (Love), Minaadendamowin (Respect), and Aakwaodeewin (Bravery).

ABOUT DYLAN MINER

Dylan Miner holds a PhD in art history from The University of New Mexico. He has lectured and been published internationally on contemporary Native art and Indigenous sovereignty. Miner coordinates the Michigan Native Arts Initiative, is a professor in the Residential College in the Arts and Humanities at Michigan State University, and a curator at the MSU Museum.

EXHIBITIONS

Lust for Leisure

October 3, 2014 through January 4, 2014

From the eighteenth century notion of the European Grand Tour to the establishment of democratized tourism in the 1920s, we have been seduced to travel. There has been an unquenchable thirst to undertake a journey. The romance of traveling is not new, but where did this yearning begin? What is the foundation for our lust for leisure? Since the early 20^th Century, both the iconic beauty and idealistic stereotypes of place have been marketed and remythologized to tempt tourists to unknownsometimes exotic and sometimes sublimeplaces.

Drawn from the unique travel poster collection at WAM, this show aims to unpack ideas about how we are drawn to place, travel, time, and myth. The exhibition, guest curated by Megan Johnston, includes more than forty international posters, dating from the 1920 to 1940s, traces the evolution of leisure travelfrom domestic to global, exclusive to popular, exotic to commonplaceand its role in American and European visual culture. The exhibition highlights the cultural attitudes, social habits, and upwardly mobility of the middle class to transform the idea of travel into a wholesome, life-enhancing leisure activity.

Trains that Passed in the Night: The Photographs of O. Winston Link

July 26, 2014 through February 9, 2015

This exhibition combines two of America's favorite pass timesphotography and trains. O. Winston Link was a pioneer of night photography and used his commercial photography skills to capture one of the best records of steam locomotion and even the hairstyles and fashions in vogue a half-century ago.

IMAGE / Transition

June 28, 2014 through November 9, 2014

IMAGE / Transition is a collaboration between the Beijing Film Academy, School of Photography and the University of Minnesota Art Department. What started as a simple exchange of digital images evolved into hosting student exchange programs. The photographs on display represent student work from all three years of this creative collaboration.

RELATED PROGRAMS

Wanderlust October 24, 2014 from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m.

Celebrate WAMs fall exhibitions with a special performance of Existentia a philosophical travel agency. Ride your bike and bring in your helmet, light-rail, or bus ticket for $1 off a specialty drink. Enjoy bike blended concoctions, music, and seasonal bites.

ABOUT WAM

Since its origin in 1934, the Weisman Art Museum has been a teaching museum for the University of Minnesota. Today, education remains central to the museums mission to create art experiences that spark discovery, critical thinking, and transformation, linking the University and the community. The Weisman Art Museum is located at 333 East River Road, Minneapolis, on the University of Minnesota campus. Admission to exhibition galleries is always free.

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